Stocking Filler Ideas for Puzzle Fans

It’s that time of year again where the big Christmas shopping trip rears its ugly head and ideas for stocking fillers are sure to be on your mind. Whilst we love the Christmas stocking classics of ‘round and edible’, like a chocolate orange or a lump of coal, we here at LockHouse want to share with you some of our favourite stocking filler ideas if you were looking for something slightly different. All of the gifts in this list are available for purchase in our board game foyer!

Exit

Fancy yourself or someone you know as a bit of an escape room enthusiast, but sad that all the country’s escape rooms are closed on Christmas Day? (We’re sure this applies to someone.) Then look no further than an Exit game to satisfy your puzzle cravings! These games bring all of the challenge of an escape room into your own home, with a sequence of numerous puzzle and riddle cards that take you through the adventure. Exit games also come with a decoder disk and a couple of ‘strange items’, and will need you to bend, fold and even destroy some items in order to solve the puzzle. Whilst it can feel painful to have to destroy some of the game components, the sense of satisfaction when you manage to crack a particularly challenging puzzle makes it well worth it! One piece of advice from us: nothing is useless when it comes to cracking some of the puzzles.

Exploding Kittens

Card games are a staple of Christmastime, and while high-stakes poker can be fun, it can cause Auntie Dorris to become rather stressed. If you’re looking for something slightly different that can provide a bit of light-hearted fun, we at LockHouse absolutely love Exploding Kittens. A card game with a wicked sense of humour, the aim of the game is to be the last player standing as you all draw cards from the main deck, hoping to avoid an ‘Exploding Kitten’ card which means you’re out of the game. It’s a game that’s very easy to pick up and learn, but once you’ve played a few games you’ll start to get to grips with some more of the tactical elements that can come into play. Learning the best time to attack your opponents, hoarding as many defuse cards as you can, or denying your opponents the moves they want to play with the amusingly named ‘Nope’ cards (for example, you can happily award your opponents a ‘Nopebel Prize’ for their troubles) are just some of the ways gameplay can get creative.

Great Minds puzzles

If you know someone who’s a fan of more ‘hands-on’ puzzles like Rubix Cubes, then the Great Minds series of puzzles will make an excellent stocking filler. These puzzles are each based around a great mind from history, such as Benjamin Franklin, Marie Curie, or David Beckham (okay, we’ve made one of those up). The kits require you to solve impossible-seeming physical manipulation puzzles, such as detaching two apparently un-detachable pieces of metal, or obtaining an item from inside a box without opening it. (No, the solution isn’t to break it with a chainsaw.) They also come in themed sets containing 5-8 puzzles, so if you already know somebody that loves these puzzles, it’s easy to give them a set that will keep them occupied until at least next Christmas.

LockHouse Escape Games gift card

Ever thought about locking your annoying second cousin Daryll in a room for an hour on Christmas Day so you can actually enjoy your turkey in peace? Well, now you can, with the gift of a LockHouse gift card! If you know somebody who’s looking to give an escape room a try, there is no better stocking filler than a LockHouse Escape Games gift card. Our gift cards are fully customizable for any number of players to play and are valid for a full two years after their purchase date. We’ve got three rooms, each with its own theme, so there’s something for your giftees to try their hands/feet/paws whatever their tastes. Try to save the world from an incoming asteroid in our space-themed Armageddon room, attempt to escape the clutches of the evil god Anubis as you search for a missing explorer in our Egyptian Tomb, or take down a supervillain as an equally super super-spy in our Secret Agent room!

Order and customise a gift card online on our website, or pick one up in store. Feel free to drop by if you have any questions, and our games masters will be happy to help! (Unless it’s you, Daryll. Not you.)